HQ

I saw a car wreck the other day. I pulled over to see if I could help. The car had rolled down a steep bank into a ditch and hit a tree. Three teenage girls were screaming and walking around the car. I went down to see if there was anything I could do. An emergency team arrived and I backed off. As I got to the top of the bank I noticed a car full of teenage boys so I asked them if they knew the girls. They said they were friends. I wandered why they weren't getting out of the car to help their friends. They didn't seem to care. I told them to go and help; they told me that the girls would be okay without them. I tried to tell them that the girls could do with some friends to stand next to them, offer them a sweatshirt or coat, assure them, put an arm around them, but they weren't interested. As I left I was annoyed by these boys' behavior. Why didn't they want to help? They stayed in their nice warm car, out of the rain, away from the screaming. And then I though...

However much money we end up surrendering to Washington next year, one thing is for certain - not one cent of it will go towards the cause of global evangelization. If we topple over the cliff on the first day of 2013 we may be able to afford extra health care, but it is pretty certain that we will, as a nation, support less global mission. My father-in-law, a veteran missionary, always used to say that the American global missions enterprise was directly connected to God's hand of providence. Since the impulse of the Spirit is global missions, so goes the means to do it. However, just because God supplies the means for mission, does not mean those who give are guaranteed a life of plenty. In 1941, my father-in-law, in his first post as a pastor in the US, told his congregation to first give to missions and  then  to the local church: "I explained to my congregation that I wanted them to give priority to their missionary giving. I asked them to  give to mis...